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Report of the vice-president of the ICR Aleksander Stetsenko at the meeting of the International community on the issue of preservation of the non-governmental Museum named after Nicholas Roerich and the Roerichs’ family heritage (March 25, 2017)

Good day, dear colleagues!

Before my report I would like to congratulate all
of you. Today is the Day of workers of Culture. This is very significant since
culture is in a very difficult situation in our country. Therefore, I
congratulate all of you and call for dedicated work for the protection of
culture.

One very important event took place yesterday, on
March 24, 2017. We celebrated the Teachers' Day, and on this day for the first
time the UN Security Council adopted the special resolution 2347 on the
protection of cultural heritage. On the UN Security Council the
Director-general of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, made a speech. Now I will read out
some quotes of her speech: "Purposeful destruction of heritage is a war
crime. It became a tactics of war targeting to split society in the long term
by means of cultural cleansing strategy. For this reason the protection of
cultural heritage is not only an issue of culture, it is an imperative of
security inseparably linked with the protection of human lives". And further:
"It is impossible to win the victory over violent extremism only by force
of arms. Building of peace also requires culture, education, protection and
transfer of cultural heritage to future generations". This is extremely
important! For the first time the Security Council adopted such a special
resolution. When it will be published, we will study it in more detail. This
resolution is closely related to the situation we are in now. Therefore, I'm
beginning my report.

The events which took place on March 7-8, as
Alexander Evgenyevich [Karpov], said, is a forcible intrusion into the
non-governmental Museum of the International Centre of the Roerichs with an active participation of
representatives of the Ministry of Culture under the cover of investigative
procedures on the Master-Bank bankruptcy. It is the second event that
cardinally changes situation in the country in regard to culture: on March 20
the Arbitration court of Moscow satisfied the claim of the State Museum of
Oriental Arts to cancel the free-of-charge rent agreement of the Lopukhins'
estate with the International Centre of the Roerichs and to evict the
International Centre of the Roerichs from this estate. If anybody still might
have had doubts, if someone still might have had thoughts that all this is a
game, just some manipulations, now the picture is clear enough. The Ministry of
Culture, to be more precise, its current management (I do not want to connect
these actions with a huge number of workers who work in this ministry), and so,
the actions of the management of the Ministry of Culture prove its real goals:
complete destruction of the non-governmental Museum, withdrawal from the
International Centre of the Roerichs of all heritage, its eviction from the
Lopukhins' estate and actually the seizure of all results of work, property,
huge monetary investments that had been spent on the creation of the museum
complex. That is an illegal enrichment and the violation of all long-term work
of a big community of workers of not only the International Centre of the
Roerichs, but also of the international societies of Russia and many other
countries who participated in the reconstruction of the Lopukhins' estate and
in the creation of the non-governmental Museum.

I directly have to say that never before there was
such a cynical, lawless and cruel treatment of the International Centre of the
Roerichs by the management of the Ministry of Culture using blasphemous lies
towards it and involving all law enforcement services, supervisory, juridical
and control authorities for its destruction. To understand this let us look
back into history.

Our Museum was opened on February 12, 1993, and in
1997 the permanent exposition was opened in these restored halls. And so, on
October 9, 1997, as you see, together with Lyudmila Vasilyevna [Shaposhnikova]
the ribbon was cut by Natalya Leonidovna Dementieva, the Minister of Culture of
the Russian Federation. She was delighted when she walked through the halls of
the Museum and saw its exposition. Here is what she said, I quote: "I
would like that courses would be opened here for many other cultural workers on
how it is possible to work without a state budget". To the right of
Lyudmila Vasilyevna you see the chairman of the Committee on Culture of the
Moscow Government, I. B. Bugaev who said: "Today it is a celebration day
for us. The celebration of the birth of a Museum. This event is unique. I do
not remember anything equal to it when the Museum was created without a single
rouble from the state funds". Thus said in fact the Minister of Culture of
the Moscow Government about our Museum.

Next slide, please. In 2006, the Minister of
Culture A. S. Sokolov gave the General Director of the Museum named after N. K.
Roerich, L. V. Shaposhnikova, a State Award. By decree of Presidium of the
State Council of the Russian Federation No. 797 of July 27, 2006, the General
Director of the Museum Lyudmila Vasilyevna Shaposhnikova was awarded the Order
of Friendship for her contribution to museology development and cultural
heritage preservation.

And in 2011, the Minister of Culture A. A. Avdeev
nominated the General Director of the Museum L.V. Shaposhnikova for the State
Award "For Merits to the Fatherland", and by Decree of the President
of the Russian Federation this high award was given to her for her large
contribution to the cultural heritage preservation and the long-term
educational and public work.

It should be noted that by 2011 the
non-governmental Museum and the International Centre of the Roerichs got a
deserved recognition both in Russia and abroad for its multi-sided cultural
activity. This fact is confirmed by a large number of congratulatory addresses
to the Centre and by many acknowledgements addressed to the ICR and its
Director. There are a lot of them; I will only quote some of them.

Here you see the congratulatory telegram of the President of the Russian
Federation Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev which was sent to the International
Centre of the Roerichs, if I am not mistaken, in 2009, on occasion of its 20th
anniversary. I read out: "I am glad to congratulate you with the 20th
anniversary of the International Centre of the Roerichs. During these years the
Centre has become widely popular in Russia and abroad. The Centre is conducting
a broad work on studying the rich heritage of the Roerichs, and the permanent
exposition and the touring exhibitions attract the visitors to the creative,
research and public work of the remarkable family. Widely popular are also your
humanitarian and educational activities, as well as contests of young artists.
The projects on protection of cultural heritage which the ICR is conducting
with the UN, have received the deserved public attention. I wish you all
success, wellbeing and all the best!" This was spoken just 6 years ago.

And here is what was written in 2011 by the deputy
Minister of Culture, the secretary of state of the Ministry of Culture E. E.
Chukovskaya, congratulating Lyudmila Vasilyevna Shaposhnikova on her 85th
anniversary, I quote: "With the creation of the International Centre of
the Roerichs and the Museum named after N. K. Roerich the dream of service to
high ideals, conducting of a broad public and cultural work on preservation and
the research of the Roerichs' heritage was realized".

We could provide further acknowledgements and recognitions
of merits of our organization. Still, I will refer to the Visitors' book of our
Museum, where we can see remarkable words not only written by ordinary
visitors, but also from high-ranking officials. I will quote one of them.
Alexander Alekseevich Avdeev, when he was appointed to the post of the Minister
of Culture, just several weeks later visited our Museum. Gentlemen Medinsky and
Aristarkhov did not visit our Museum, but they successfully destroy it. And so,
A. A. Avdeev was delighted to see the Museum: "I thought, here are just
several rooms as some tried to convince me, - just some private museum, not
worth paying attention to it". But here, he saw the beauty of exposition
where everything is perfectly thought out, where not only the works of art, but
also the life of the Roerich Family is presented. In the visitors' book the
minister wrote (please, show the slide), I quote:

"A remarkable Centre, restored by caring hands
of devotees and followers of the Roerichs. It is needed by everybody, not only
as a museum. It is an important spiritual Centre bringing the ideas of
goodness, justice and intellectual search of ideality into the world".

All these recognitions, awards, acknowledgements
that I only briefly mentioned were connected, of course, with the most
important merit of Lyudmila Vasilyevna – the creation of the non-governmental
Museum and that huge public cultural work in Russia and in the world, which our
Museum conducted and continues to conduct.

What had happened in the ICR and its Museum that,
with the appointment of Medinsky and his companions to the management of the
Ministry of Culture, the attitude to our non-governmental organization
radically changed from the second half of 2012? Did the ICR stop its work, the
preservation and spreading the cultural heritage of the Roerich family in
Russia and abroad? No, on the contrary. Even with loss of funding in November,
2013, the International Centre of the Roerichs by assistance of a huge number
of Russian and foreign non-governmental organizations succeeded in conducting a
grand international exhibition Project that still does not have analogs in the
world. It is named "The Roerich Pact: History and Modernity". This
cultural and educational project dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Roerich
Pact, widely celebrated in 2015, was started by the International Centre of the
Roerichs in 2012 with the support of the Minister of Culture, A. A. Avdeev. The
new management of the Ministry of Culture did not participate at all in this
project, but in these years their fight against us to destroy us just began.

The project was supported by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Rossostrudnichestvo and we are very grateful for that.
We carried out Projects in 16 countries all over the world, as well as in 150
cities of Russia and we received numerous official grateful addresses,
including those from the UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon and the
Director-general of UNESCO, Mme. Irina Bokova. I quote an excerpt from her
letter:

"Your initiative is even more important
because it contributes directly to the achievement of UNESCO goals to establish
peace in consciousness of people. Therefore I am glad to welcome such
international projects as yours as they strengthen promotion of culture of the
world and its achievement through education and culture. The goal and the
international scope of the initiative proposed by you, emphasizing with the
help of Roerich's heritage the essential role of education and culture for
achievement of stable peace as well as your original approach combining deep
historical vision, culture and art demonstrates that your activities directly
correspond to the priorities of the United Nations on education, science and
culture".

Nothing similar was ever done by either the
Ministry of Culture, or the State Museum of Oriental Arts, which make war
against us for total destruction. The question is: In whose interests is this
fight? Is it really for the benefit of the Russian Federation? Of course, no.
This fight is conducted on the destruction of an important component of culture
– the non-governmental form of culture, represented by the International Centre
of the Roerichs and its non-governmental Museum. Even if we compare what was
achieved by our Centre and the Museum during 25 years of their existence and,
for example, by the State Museum of Oriental Arts, we will see clear
incompatibility and the low level of the latter. The International Centre of
the Roerichs has held more than 670 touring exhibitions across Russia and
countries near and far abroad. According to the Museum of Oriental Arts, it
held only 35 exhibitions. What a disparity! If we speak about the publication
and promoting of the Roerichs' heritage, the International Centre of the
Roerichs has published more than 250 books with a total circulation of more
than half a million copies. The Museum of Oriental Arts published books, too.
Not more than 10, but among them there are books containing slander against N.
K. Roerich and that present him as a political adventurer who tried to organize
an armed movement and to seize power in Tibet, to create a state on parts of
the territory of independent countries. What a shame! A name that is so
important for understanding culture, which is a flag for Russia – his ideas –
and then humiliate it in such a way! Now they tell us that the Museum of
Oriental Arts will do all for promoting the Roerichs' heritage, – what a lie!

The merits of the ICR to Russia and the whole world
are obvious. Then, once again the question arises: Why do Medinsky and Aristarkhov
for more than 4 years conduct a massive campaign to discredit and destruct our
non-governmental Museum? There is only one answer: We are facing this nightmare
and destruction not because we work badly, but exactly because we work very
well. The officials cannot understand this. And I will add: We are guilty to
the Ministry of Culture only because we do not want to break the will of the
founder of the ICR, S. N. Roerich, who transferred the heritage for creation of
a non-governmental Museum. We do not want to break all long-term selfless
efforts of Lyudmila Vasilyevna Shaposhnikova. This is all our guilt to the
Ministry of Culture which wants to seize everything and possess it all.

Let us review the main complaints of the Ministry
of Culture for the last 4 years when Mister Medinsky became the minister.
Before that, as you saw on the previous slides that have been shown to us, all
the facts of rewarding and attention from the country leaders to the merits of
Lyudmila Vasilyevna and our Centre, testify for themselves. However, with the
appointment of Medinsky and Aristarkhov as management of the Ministry of
Culture rumors began to spread that the ICR allegedly illegally disposes of the
Roerichs' heritage. For that goal, in the mass media and among the power
authorities a slanderous campaign has been started, the effect of which was the
forcible intrusion, and about which I will tell later.

The second accusation is that allegedly we do not
conduct cultural activity. We heard this scandalous accusation during the court
hearing on the eviction of the ICR from the Lopukhins' estate in the
Arbitration court of Moscow. One of the arguments of the Ministry of Culture,
the Museum of the Oriental Arts and Rosimushchestvo is that we are actually not
a cultural organization. According to Aristarkhov who continues to send letters to
the court and puts ardent pressure on it, a cultural organization is only an
institution of culture, you understand? It means they completely discarded all
huge activity of non-governmental organizations that may not even be registered
as legal entities and which conduct enormous work in the country on the
preservation of the cultural heritage.

So, we are not a cultural organization, otherwise
the court would not have taken the decision on eviction because the state must,
in exchange, provide a cultural organization with another location. However
let's not nip ahead, when we receive the motivation part of the judgment, we
will file an appeal it and prove the contrary.

The next accusation is that the ICR does not
preserve and maintain the monument of culture we are in right now and that ICR
brought it to a catastrophic state, so that the intended state museum needs to
take urgent measures, however, it is not able to do so, because here is the
ICR. Therefore, the ICR urgently needs to be evicted and the restoration to be
started. It is a shocking moment of judicial procedure when solid state
organizations gave the court false documents and even made false accusations.
The court completely deprived us of protection, we even demanded to perform due
diligence, but the court refused us twice.

Those are the accusations to the ICR. Thanks to
Medinsky and Aristarkhov, our collective work for more than 25 years, our
service to the Motherland within several years was turned into nothing, and the
ICR – into a harmful and dangerous for Russia organization. Therefore, it needs
to be destroyed as soon as possible and its activity to be stopped. It is so
difficult when you are in all this negative and you feel how far the ignorance
of high officials has gone! They are willfully, to the detriment of Russia and
for the sake of their mercenary goals, ready to accuse people and an
organization that have done so much for Russia and the whole world of anything

Let's retrospectively consider the issue: Perhaps, the Ministry of
Culture is right, indeed, and the ICR has no rights to possess the Roerichs’
heritage?

First, you know that Svetoslav Roerich handed over the heritage in 1990,
and it was already the Roerichs' second attempt. The first one was made by
George Roerich who brought his family’s heritage in 1957. And where is it now?
Only a few dozens of these paintings are on permanent display, however, more
than 300-400 or even more are in the vaults of museums. The rest of the
painting collection and research archive from George Roerich’s apartment was
ruthlessly looted. This already happened in the new Russia - in the 1990s and
2000s. Anticipating that, Svetoslav Roerich insisted on transferring the
heritage to a non-governmental museum: "You create a non-governmental
museum, and I will then hand over to it. Provide appropriate premises for the
museum in Moscow." And the Soviets through the Soviet government fulfilled
Svetoslav Roerich’s conditions. After arrival in Russia (please, the next
slide), he held a press conference, gave respective instructions, invited
Lyudmila Shaposhnikova to Bangalore and based on the will, the testamentary
prescription, signed on March 19, 1990, he handed over the Roerichs' archive and
heritage to the Soviet Fund of the Roerichs in Moscow.

It is important to point out that in the testamentary prescription there
is a paragraph to which the Ministry of Culture is persistently unwilling to
pay attention to. Under this paragraph, Svetoslav Roerich obliged the Ministry
of Culture to hand over to the Soviet Fund of the Roerichs the 288 paintings
which were then and now still are, I believe, on temporary use of the Ministry
of Culture.

And secondly, Svetoslav reserved the right to enjoy the property
throughout his life. These are the two points that the Ministry of Culture
ignores. After Lyudmila Shaposhnikova had brought the Roerichs' heritage to
Russia, as we know, based on the Svetoslav Roerich’s testamentary prescription,
two appeals were written to the Minister of Culture of the USSR with a request
to return his collection. It is yet to be returned. Svetoslav Roerich’s
representative in Europe, Ingeborg Fritsch, personally addressed to the
Minister of Culture providing all the powers of attorney, proving her right to
act on behalf of Svetoslav. Still, they didn’t give the collection away!

Now the reason is clear for us: the collection has been partially
looted. And I say this with full responsibility; we can talk separately on this
issue.

You know that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in September 1991
the Soviet Fund of the Roerichs was transformed into the International Centre
of the Roerichs upon the request of Svetoslav Roerich. By the end of December
1991, the Soviet Fund of the Roerichs, based on the first law on
non-governmental organizations in the Soviet Union, would have to register.
Now, among those documents of the Soviet Fund which K. E. Rybak withdrew with
the help of investigative bodies (may he look) for the month of June, if I’m
not mistaken, there is a protocol of the SFR Management Board meeting in which
the decision has been taken that before registration, it is necessary to amend
the Charter and approve these amendments at the Conference of the Soviet Fund
of the Roerichs which took place in September 1991. The Conference adopted the
decision to transform the Soviet Fund of the Roerichs into the International
Centre of the Roerichs, which they are trying to cross out. But you can't throw
words out of history; this fact is mentioned in the minutes of the Soviet Fund
of the Roerichs available in various agencies, including the Ministry of
Justice.

Thus, in December 1991, it was not the Soviet Fund of the Roerichs that
registered with the Ministry of Justice but the International Centre of the
Roerichs. But the Ministry of Culture immediately came up with the idea: let us
not recognize the ICR to be the successor of the Soviet Fund of the Roerichs
and let us not return the collection to it. Officials always rush in greed. If
they had waited for Svetoslav Roerich’s passing away, then the ICR would really
have had no chance. But they started their campaign on non-recognition of the
ICR a successor during Svetoslav Roerich’s life, and he reacted accordingly.

First, he wrote a letter to the President of the Russian Federation,
Boris Yeltsin. This letter is available in the archive of the Presidential
Executive Office. In this letter Svetoslav Roerich stated that, together
with the rest of the heritage he had given a large exhibition of paintings to
the International Centre of the Roerichs, which had long been in the possession
of the Ministry of Culture and was then illegally withheld by the State Museum
of Oriental Art. And he requested help from the President in returning this part
of the heritage to the International Centre of the Roerichs. That was the will
of the paintings' owner.

In the Act of Acceptance of this collection received by the Soviet Union
in 1978, first of all, Svetoslav Roerich’s ownership rights were recognized
which has never been questioned by anybody, and also it was stated that it
shall be returned ON FIRST DEMAND of the owner, inheritor and his legal
representatives.

Boris Nikolayevich [Yeltsin] gave the corresponding orders; there is a
draft decree of the Russian Federation Government. By order of Boris Yeltsin,
the Ministry of Culture was given the respective governmental order. The
Ministry of Culture recognized the ICR rights to this collection. But Svetoslav
Roerich was already in a rather advanced age, ill, and on 30 January 1993 he
passed away. As a result, no order was executed. But! Before his passing away,
on 22 October 1992 Svetoslav Roerich, honorary President of the International
Centre of the Roerichs in addition to his testamentary disposition certified by
a notary in Bangalore, confirmed the property rights of International Centre of
the Roerichs for the heritage transferred to the Soviet Fund. That is, once
again, he called the ICR the legal successor of the Soviet Fund of the
Roerichs. Under the law of India this document is an assignment deed. In
effect, with the signing of this document, Svetoslav transferred his ownership
of the property to the ICR. It was his decision but the Ministry of Culture is
unwilling to pay attention to this document.

There is one more thing. In 2004, if I am not mistaken, we, being
already in litigation with the Ministry of Culture, appealed to the senior
lawyer of the Supreme Court of India, Jiterma Sharma, for clarification. He
conducted research and made his conclusion (please, show the document of Mr.
Sharma). In the conclusion you can read that the addendum to the Svetoslav
Roerich’s testamentary disposition dated as of September 22, 1992 is the
transfer of rights, as Svetoslav Roerich transfers the ownership of the
heritage to the International Centre of the Roerichs instead of the Soviet Fund
of the Roerichs.

Taking into account that there was already a court case on the will in
progress, and our claim to the court was filed in 2002, why did we use this
document as the codicil to the will? Because, given that the country changes
under the will, Sharma came to the conclusion that this document could serve as
a codicil.

India has case law. What does this mean? It means that if some legal
relations in the country are not regulated by law, court decision on certain
matters has the force of this law. Sharma didn't know and we didn't know, and
only six months later the Supreme court of India, reviewing some other court
cases on the will, stated that a codicil must have a second signature.

You see, there is one signature on this document by a witness, a notary,
who legalized the signature of Svetoslav Nikolayevich Roerich. But the court
found that there had to be a second signature. The Ministry of Culture used it
to challenge the decision. So, suppose it's not codicil. But Sharma did not
claim that this document was the basis of codicil, that is, ownership transfer
instrument. It is a movable property of an Indian citizen, which was
transferred from India to Russia, and therefore we take the ownership under the
Indian law.

The intrigue of the Ministry of Culture lies in the fact that, using the
court decision of 2014, it spreads the rumor everywhere that the ICR illegally,
please note, owns the heritage handed over by Svetoslav Roerich, because the
court denied it the right of inheritance. In 2015, the Ministry of Culture
organized five audits by the Prosecutor's Office claiming that the heritage was
to be withdrawn from the International Centre of the Roerichs, as it is not the
proper owner. But it is a very simple thing, because every normal lawyer
understands that the ownership is taken not only on the basis of a will. There
is sale, purchase, donation, and in India there is transfer of rights. And here
another question arises: if the Ministry of Culture believes that we have no
rights on this property, it should go to court, like in a civilized country,
file a lawsuit, claim it in court, but not through the riot police and
investigating authorities as has been done by the Ministry of Culture.

In June it will be three years since the Moscow Court ruled to deny the
ICR of the right to the inherited property. But the court decision does not say
a word that the ICR owns the heritage illegally. Moreover, this court decision
does not say that the state shall own this heritage. Such are the conflicts of
law! The document that you have been shown indicates that the ICR legally owns
the heritage transferred by Svetoslav Roerich, and what has the Ministry of
Culture got? Is there at least one property document confirming the right of
the state to this heritage? No! On the contrary, all the documents confirm that
the state illegally owns the heritage. So, that is the situation.

The intention of the Ministry of Culture to prove that we illegally
possess the heritage, that we are not the successor of the Soviet Fund of the
Roerichs, has a long history, it's a great intrigue played by the Ministry of
Culture. Many organizations founded in the Soviet Union went through the
carve-up of property, heritage and litigation in the 1990s. The point is that
the Soviet Fund of the Roerichs did not own the heritage under the property
right. Its ownership was based on the power of attorney by Svetoslav Roerich
who was the sole owner of this heritage. Therefore, that was the decision of
the heritage owner. And it doesn't matter whether we are the legal successor of
the Soviet Fund of the Roerichs or not, we are the owners of the transferred
heritage because it was decided so by the heritage owner. The intrigue here
collapses, it is often repeated but it has no ground.

Next I would like to turn to very important issues. But before I want to
note that part of the heritage owned by the international Centre of the
Roerichs was donated to it. All the given donations, including those given by
Boris Bulochnik, since the late 90's and early 2000s have deed of gift. And the
right of transfer from an owner or an owner representative to the International
Centre of the Roerichs has never been questioned. There are no court decisions
that a transfer was void or illegal. None of the donated artworks has been
wanted. So what happened to us on 7-8 March when the investigating authorities
seized paintings donated by Boris Bulochnik until 2002, under the pretext that
they had been allegedly bought with stolen money, and are, as Anatoly Karpov
said, a serious abuse of investigation rights and the laws of the Russian
Federation. Why? Because, if the investigation is carried out in the framework
2010-2013, what right has it got to say that already in 1992, 1999 and 2002,
respectively, the seized paintings were bought with "stolen" money?
It is clear that this was done in the interests of the Ministry of Culture.

Interestingly enough: when the investigation began, it was well-known
that the International Centre of the Roerichs had never hidden the fact that
Bulochnik donated paintings to us, on the contrary, we were proud of it. Where
else can you find such an art patron in Russia: over 400 works of the Roerichs
have been returned to Russia – what other art patron can boast of it? Boris
Ilyich did not spend money on football clubs. And our Museum was not the only
one he helped. He helped many non-governmental organizations; I am not going to
list them now. And he helped state organizations as well. So the country should be proud that this heritage has been
returned to Russia from abroad. And it is not hidden in the vaults of some
private person, but exhibited in a museum, but alas... We know that the last
lot of nine paintings by Svetoslav Roerich hanging in this hall was donated in
November or October 2013, a few weeks before the Master-Bank license
revocation. Master-Bank allegedly issued a credit for purchasing these pictures
in the amount of 45 (or something like that), which allegedly was not fully
returned. That is why the investigation got interested in these paintings.

In 2016 an investigator came to us, explained the situation, we showed
and told him everything. He beforehand in a call gave notice what particularly
interests him. When he arrived, and we talked to him, he said, "I'm forced
to withdraw paintings as evidence, because there is investigation. Well, what
can I do? I will deposit them with you, and they will be with you until the
court decision on this case."

When the assault began on 7-8 March here, I thought that investigators
arrived for these paintings. Oh, no... They came for the others, too. The
Ministry of Culture played the master here – to the fullest! We have already
held a press conference on this occasion, I would not like to return to that
issue, just want to draw your attention to this: why are my colleagues and I
convinced that it was organized by the Ministry of Culture? First, the
investigators who came exclusively work
on banks and have nothing to do with art, creativity or museums. On the other
hand, it is understandable: at a sudden, they asked at the Ministry of Culture
for experts. But I repeat: it's a Museum, not a gangster formation. If they had
called, told us, and then would have come! If they had had pure intentions,
they would have acted quite differently in the framework of their investigative
actions. For example, as it was last year when one of investigators came, and
we sorted it out together. But taking into account that OMON forces and about
50 investigators came here, that the timing of their choice was just before the
beginning of the working day, that representatives of the Ministry of Culture
were at the head of the crowd entering the Museum, and that the investigators
had already known who they were to cut off, we came to the conclusion this was
done on the initiative of the Ministry of Culture. Mr. Mkrtychev, the great
expert, was also there. They already knew who they needed to remove and not
allow into the Museum. The Museum management was immediately cut off, no one of
the keepers or staff was let in. There was a security guard sitting in the
corner, who had nothing to do with the display or paintings. All the halls were
empty: neither I, nor Natalia Cherkashina, nor Pavel Zhuravikhin nor a keeper
was allowed in. They were playing master here on their own. We came in when the
paintings had been all taken from the walls and packed. When we said, "We
are not going to sign any act of withdrawal," the investigator responded,
"we do not need it, a witness has already signed it." Not a witness,
but a representative, and who appointed the representative? They themselves. Do
you realize it? It's awful.

When they started to break into the Museum and the
security could not see who forces his way, and since the staff without
permission of the head of security, the General Director or the Vice President
of the Museum had no right to open the door, they started to shout: "Open
the door!". After that, Mkrtychev's voice could be heard: "Slam the door;
they are of no cultural value". Words spoken out by the deputy director of
the Museum of Oriental Art! And the Ministry of Culture seriously wants us to
cooperate with such people? Is that representative of the Museum of Oriental
Art at all able to create anything, not speaking of anything similar to
Roerichs' heritage? You cannot be talking seriously…

All roles had been outlined, completely! Mr.
Mkrtychev was responsible for the paintings, while Mr. Rybak took care of the
archive documents. They were here in December 2015. They knew where everything
was and he [Rybak] deliberately seized the archive documents from the Soviet
Roerich Foundation dated 1998-1991. What does it have to do with the
investigation? Nothing! Do you understand? It is a crime, it is banditism, and
it was the Ministry of Culture, which used the investigative authorities, the
Ministry deceived them and I can assume why they did so.

I would like to add some more, if you give me some
time. I am not ruling it out, but I am even convinced that search and seizure
of the exhibits were conducted based on the letter of the administration of the
Ministry of Culture to the investigative authorities. The letter was misleading
and contained falsified information that ICR could hide, take away or sell the
paintings. And, most likely, because of the tax authorities, which said:
"Well, we counted 52 million roubles of debt. They now will start selling
paintings in order to raise money." You see, what point of mockery can be
reached in accusations of the organization, whose staff, receiving a small wage
or not being paid at all, has been working for the idea of preservation of the
heritage for a long time. They were accused of intending to loot, take away and
sell the heritage that they had been collecting, despite all the difficulties,
with selfless devotion for a long time. Only those, who do it themselves, could
invent such accusations. Do you understand? He looks different at the world
with his own mind and understanding, and he is governing our culture. What if
we recall all warnings of the Prosecutor’s office concerning smuggling of
cultural heritage addressed to Mr. Medinsky? You see, we live in a certain
time: criminals are governing us and they are destroying culture. It is awful.

However, we are alive and we will continue our
work. It is clear that the seizure was carried out under the initiative of the
Ministry of Culture. At the beginning of my report I have quoted some examples
of acknowledgements and recognition of ICR activity from the President, the
Government, from a number of ministries and agencies from remote regions as
well as from other governmental bodies. They recognized that we were working
well and that we achieved success. However, the new administration of the
Ministry of Culture realized that it was necessary to discredit our
organization and our administration, so that it would be possible to carry out
the seizure, which took place on 7-8 March 2017. And so they started doing it!
In fact, it is a complot, a violent corrupt complot against a non-governmental
organization, which has done so much for Russia.

I will just give a few examples. For example, in
2013 the administration of the Ministry of Culture initiated a campaign aimed
at defamation of ICR. I mention 2013
(perhaps it started before) as I have the documents proving it. You know, that
in 2013 "Master-Bank" collapsed and we lost our funds and there were
some appeals. Here I have a letter (please, show the letter, which Mr.
Aristarkhov addressed to the Office of the President). In July 2014, Mr.
Aristarkhov addressed a letter to Mr. Mikhailovsky to the Office of the
President. I will quote only the main point: "The Ministry of Culture of
the Russian Federation does not know whose interests are behind ICR. It is necessary
to realize that fulfillment of demands of ICR would encourage the transfer of
the Roerichs’ paintings from the State Museum of Oriental Art to unknown
persons, who could dispose of this part of cultural heritage of the Russian
peoples, as they wish." Do you understand?

It might seem that there is nothing strange. But
how can it be: the Ministry of Culture does not know who is behind the Centre?
These allusions, these lies that were brought to the mind of the Office of the
President are very significant. Now we understand why the Office of the
President, getting our numerous applications, sent them all to the Ministry of
Culture.

It is the beginning of a disastrous march of lies
coming from the Ministry of Culture. In the same year, on 22 October 2014, Mr.
Aristarkhov sent a letter to Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), which is
directly related to the events that took place on 7-8 March 2017. I will show
it right now. This letter clearly shows, what methods the Ministry of Culture
and Mr. Aristarkhov in particular used. "The Ministry of Culture of the
Russian Federation addresses to MIA the statement of Mr. Litvinov on the
destructive and anti-cultural activity of the International Centre of the
Roerichs in order to verify the information presented in Mr. Litvinov’s letter,
considering a potentially illegal activity." If we take a look at the
letter of Mr. Litvinov, we will find out that it is very illustrative. I will
present a quote from the letter: "If tomorrow Shaposhnikova for some
reason, for example, deserving to retain control over the heritage, orders her
sectarian followers to take up arms or Molotov cocktails, they might execute
this order, too. This would result into unpredictable consequences for our
State and society."

The investigators from MIA, who came to ICR,
realized all the absurdity… I see some people smiling. Dear colleagues, they
knew what they were doing; they were putting this lie in the minds of the
officials. At first, they did not perceive this lie but when there was a lot of
it, the doubt appeared: "What if it was true?" And here we have the
result: an armed seizure, approved by MIA. And further they will take the
heritage away and start selling it. It is ridiculous. When you realize, against
whom all this is going, it makes you fear for the future of Russia.

That is why we were attacked by armed OMON; it was
the consequence of the letter mentioned above. By the way, when we started to
check, we found out that Mr. Litvinov does not exist at the address, it is a
fake. So what? Did the first deputy Minister of Culture not know about the
activity of our Museum after all I said? It was in 2014. I have already read
out the letter of Madame Bokova from 2014. We have already realized the large
project "The Roerich Pact. History and Modernity." We asked the
Ministry of Culture to support us but they refused. They knew about our
activity. However, they spreaded the lie are further spreading it.

In 2014, by request of the Ministry of Culture, a
criminal case for ostensibly illegal renovation of the Lopukhins' estate was
initiated. It has not been decided yet, you see. It is absurd, when there was
litigation with our neighbor The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. If we
present all the facts… No paper that could bear this. It would burn because of all
the hatred and all the lies about our non-governmental organization, which we
have faced during these three or four years of the administration of Mr.
Medinsky and Mr. Aristarkhov.

The year 2015. After the death of Lyudmila
Shaposhnikova the Ministry of Culture started to attack us more actively.
Evgeni Primakov, who was our close friend, a member of the Board and the Board
of Trustees for many years, passed away earlier that year. During his life no
one dared to humiliate, offend and rob us. We used to be slightly attacked and
criticized… And now the Ministry of Culture, planning to get everything, is
doing the following. The Ministry started sending ultimatums "urgently
transfer the heritage" (show the letter of Mr. Medinsky). At the same time
the seizure of the estate started. How did it start? Did it start with the
letter of the Minister of Culture Medinsky to whom? To the President? Please
read it. He says that he wants to execute Svetoslav Roerich’s will, considering
the Lopukhins' estate and for this purpose demands to transfer the estate to
him, as if we had not executed the will. Does he really not know that there is
a working non-governmental Museum in the estate?

Just imagine, several weeks later the estate was
transferred to the Russian Federation. It used to take officials several years
to divide the rights of ownership to the monument in Moscow, while in this case
the transfer of the estate to the Russian Federation and later to the
operational management of the State Museum of Oriental Art took several weeks.
What for? Under the request of Mr. Aristarkhov in order to establish here a
State museum. The State Museum of Oriental Art received such present and then
was probably planning to win back. Well, they managed to win back, as you know.

It was a real seizure of the estate and then the
eviction procedure. It is not just about the illegal takeover, it is about a
fight against corruption of the officials, while in this case there are a
number of corrupt officials. Can you imagine? If one governmental body makes
another one carry out such actions, it is a very dangerous gang. Moreover, it
is carried out under the cover of governmental interests, which is the most
interesting thing.

Further, they are trying to force our staff to turn
our organization into a governmental one. When the staff, the Board, the
conference refused, saying: "No, we will remain faithful to our Testament,
to our Charter and aims", the true nightmare of 2016 began. Mr.
Aristarkhov sent letters to all governmental bodies aiming to discredit the
International Centre of the Roerichs and its administration. I will quote one
more letter, I do not know, whether there was enough time to scan it, in order
to show everything. The letter to the Chairman of the Committee on Culture of the
State Duma Mr. Govorukhin. In this letter Mr. Aristarkhov writes, I quote:
"The consistent, systematical position of the ICR administration which is
hostile to the governmental bodies and aiming at support of active opposition
of the Roerichs community to the State is a matter of concern."

The State Duma and the Committee on Culture have
always supported us but how can we trust them in this case? I would like to
consider my speech to be the official complaint filed with the Prosecutor’s
Office and the Investigative Committee. Let them look into this case. And if I
am calumniating the officials, let them charge me with criminal offences, but I
am ready to present all the documents proving that we are right.

I repeat that at that time our large project
"The Roerich Pact. History and Modernity" is in process. It is
embarrassing! And 17 unscheduled inspections at the same time, which were
initiated at the International Centre of the Roerichs by request of Mr.
Aristarkhov. There were many governmental bodies, which inspected us, including
tax office and labor inspection, the Investigative Committee, the Prosecutor’s
Office, the Ministry of Justice, MIA, while the Prosecutor’s Office of
Khamovnichesky district carried out about 5 or 6 inspections in response to all
complaints and claims. Our staff had to go through it. How can one work under
such conditions? It is an obvious humiliation and abuse of power by the
Ministry of Culture. We are not subordinated to the Ministry of Culture. Then
they were especially creative, just imagine: under the request of Mr.
Aristarkhov the Ministry of Justice initiated an inspection in order to check
whether ICR was an extremist organization! After our cultural projects were
recognized at the highest level they are trying to accuse us of extremism! The
Ministry of Justice did inspect but we should pay tribute to the officials from
the Ministry of Justice, they did not surrender under the pressure of Mr.
Aristarkhov. However, they quoted examples: you see, Mr. Bulochnik had been a member
of their Board and they were defending him. The representatives of the Ministry
of Justice responded: "He is member their organization, so they have the
right to do it. Moreover, there has been no judgement yet."

Finally, the Ministry of Justice issued an order
confirming that we were a cultural organization carrying out broad cultural
activity, which it even listed.

However, the representatives of the Ministry of
Culture did not consider it to be enough and you know, how we were attacked by
the media, accused of extremism; there were even complaints filed with the
General Prosecutor’s Office. It is horrible. The tax authorities spent a year
inspecting our organization. They asked me about the financial flows. You see,
how much disinformation was published in the media in order to make the tax
office initiate an inspection. They accused us of receiving lorries full of
money from Mr. Bulochnik, while Mr. Stetsenko was ostensibly concealing the
money. I cannot show you the bundle of letters by Aristarkhov, where he writes
that I am "manipulating financial flows of the organization". Well,
show me these flows; I will make them flow in the right direction. Now we need
money for our cultural activity. And all these things are caused by the administration
the Ministry of Culture. Thus, it is awful, when such officials are governing
culture in the country. It is terrible!

You know about the distribution certificate of the
movie "Call of the Cosmic Evolution". The distribution certificate
was revoked because the movie used a documentary footage, some pictures from
the well-known film "Ordinary Fascism". They referred to the law
etc. And now just look: even cultural personalities are worried.

However, the most interesting fact is that during
the court proceedings nothing was said about our position and no word was said
that it was only footing from the documentary used in the film. Why? What for?
The aim was to impose the use of the Nazi symbols, you see. As if we were
promoting Nazi symbols. Dear colleagues, it is true extremism, but on the side
of the Ministry of Culture. Thus, the
officials are mainly fighting not against ICR but against the Roerichs’
heritage, their peacemaking ideas. The officials hate them and they are not
interested in them. Just remember the statement of Mr. Rybak. They make people
think that the Roerichs’ ideas are dangerous. Where are we going? What is the
danger of the appeal "Peace through Culture"?

We know that the value of any idea depends on the
activity of the originator of the idea. Just look at Nicholas Roerich’s
creative work and art. They are full of the ideas of the Living Ethics and are
in demand in our country now. However, the officials from the Ministry of
Culture are trying to erase the Roerichs’ peacemaking ideas. While such
activity of the officials is hostile towards Russia. I cannot call it in any
other way.

And what about the Buddhist festival? They wanted
to compare its organization with criminal activity. They are watching us,
fixing each step, each action and wondering: how? We have already organized
Buddhist festivals as well as festivals of the Indian and Mongolian culture. We
explained that Eastern culture and its religious ideas are indivisible. They do
not have paintings there; there are religious ideas everywhere unlike in the
Western culture.

If I tell you, you will not believe: about six
letters were sent in order to make the Prosecutor’s Office of the
Khamovnichesky district initiate a criminal case. Those letters were written by
the State Museum of Oriental Art and by Mr. Aristarkhov as well and the letters
were presented to the court by the prosecutor’s office. There is a colossal
pressure! They are just making use of the judicial power, trying to accuse us
of extremism as well, in order to destroy our organization. Finally, the court
of the first instance dropped the administrative case.

What can be said about the decision of the
collegium of the Ministry of Culture, considering the establishment of the
branch of the State Museum of Oriental Art at the Lopukhins' estate, dated
February 2016? Do you think that the court has examined this issue? The court
said: "Sorry, but the interests of ICR are not violated in this
case." We said: "Your Honor, how can that be? Is it not a
violation of our interests, if in the building where the exposition is located
and in which the Museum is working for 26 years, a State museum will be
established?" "No." Do you see? This is the judicial power ruled
by the Ministry of Culture.

Another interesting fact: in 2013 or in 2014 the
Ministry of Culture appealed the judgement of the Khamovnichesky court dated
2011, according to which we were recognized as the heirs. The judge asked the
representative of the Ministry of Culture, its attorney, because the judgement
came into force and the Ministry stood in court. The judge asked: "Why
have you not appealed the decision when you stood in court? You could have
protested." Do you know the answer of the representative of the Ministry
of Culture? A remarkable response. He said: "Your Honor, at that time
there was another minister with his opinion and now there is a new one, thus,
with another opinion". You see they are manipulating the law in order to
satisfy their own interests. There is no doubt that those are their personal
interests as they contradict the interests of our country. Here you have the
examples.

One can tell a lot more about it but I should
finish my speech. To conclude, I would like to add that Lyudmila Shaposhnikova
used to say that life is a struggle. We do understand it. Life is an endless
struggle between the old and the new, a struggle in overcoming; no achievement
is possible without struggle. Only the ignorant mind can be afraid of the
struggle. Life is a struggle; it is an axiom without need to prove. However,
the struggle has different levels. The more powerful the struggle, the more
important the new idea is. A great idea always faces resistance. The fact that
the Roerichs’ cultural and educational ideas are facing active resistance
proves their importance and significance not only for Russia. Otherwise, it is
impossible to solve the problem threatening the whole world, without unity of
peoples based on cultural cooperation.

I would like to return to the question considering
that the last representative of the great Roerich dynasty, Svetoslav Roerich,
had clearly defined the conditions of transfer of the Roerichs' heritage. The
first condition implied that the heritage should be transferred to a
non-governmental Museum only, and the second one implied that the Museum was to
be accommodated at the Lopukhins’ estate.

Now the Ministry of Culture is in a great battle to
breach Russia's obligations granted to Svetoslav Roerich, and it already
breached them. In the latest case the court decided that ICR and the Museum
shall be evicted from the Lopukhins’ estate. I really want to hope that it is a
judicial error and as soon as we get the statement of reasons, we will appeal
the decision. But if not, then there will be no legal basis for the heritage to
remain in Russia. And that is extremely dangerous. Thus, let us hope that the
heads of government realize the significance of the situation and value it
properly. We really would like to hope so. Otherwise, we will have no other
opportunity but to seek the support of the international community, the UN, as
we are an associate member with The United Nations Department of Public
Information, we have special consultative status with UN ECOSOS; we will
approach these organizations. We will have no alternative unless the situation
changes for the better.

And the last thing I would like to mention. Several
days ago, RIA-Novosti published a statement of Mr. Aristarkhov. I am quoting:
"We are ready to consider proposals for coexistence in this building,
provided that we would preserve the right to this building". He was
talking about the right of the State Museum of Oriental Art as well as of the
Ministry of Culture. Thus, I wonder who has ever denied the title of the State
to this building. We? We never ever did it. It is State property despite the
fact that enormous non-governmental funds have been invested into it. But we
are not challenging the State’s title to the building. Therefore, it cannot be
understood why Mr. Aristarkhov states the following: "The judgement made
the day before yesterday confirms it, but the International Centre of the
Roerichs does not agree with it. We are not aiming to destroy the
non-governmental Museum; we are aiming to make the Roerichs' heritage preserved
without any violations of law and available to all citizens." Do you
understand? Was the situation different before? Again, they make people see
only the lies.

The following remark of Mr. Aristarkhov is
interesting as well: "The Ministry of Culture is looking forward to any
form of cooperation with the International Centre of the Roerichs". Dear
colleagues, what a lie! I would like to repeat once again so that everyone
understands: it was not them, who proposed cooperation; it was the
International Centre of the Roerichs, who proposed cooperation. At first, it
was officially communicated to Mr. Rybak in December 2015, when I said:
"Do you want to cooperate with us? So, let’s cooperate. We are not against
it. Do you want to establish a State museum here? We are ready even to discuss
this topic, but, please, find money and invest it. There are plans for the
renovation of the estate, build something new, another museum building instead
of the garages. Then, we will see whether your thoughts are unblotted. Alright,
let there be accommodated a State collection, while here the non-governmental
one will remain." I was ready to do so. I knew that they would reject it.
But they are not talking about it. On 27 October 2016, there was a working
meeting that took place at the Federation Council under the chairmanship of the
head of the Committee on Culture, Madame Dragunkina. The working meeting was
organized under numerous requests of the community, and the administration of
the Ministry of Culture and the administration of ICR were invited thereto.
During that meeting, we tried to discuss the situation. We are grateful to
Madame Dragunkina for this working meeting. There is the minutes of the
meeting, in which everything was clearly recorded, including our proposals for
resolving the question and for further cooperation.

That is why this statement of Mr. Aristarkhov is so
awful! Several days ago we approached the Federation Council and the Ministry
of Culture with a request to support our exhibition project on 22 March. We
wanted to inaugurate the exhibition of one painting by Nicholas Roerich Ready for the Campaign, a gorgeous
canvas dated 1910. It was donated to us in 2005. We restored the painting, we
wanted to exhibit it for the first time, and we invited the Ministry of Culture
to take part in the project. Mr. Aristarkhov, presenting his report to the
Federation Council, said that the Ministry of Culture consented. Several weeks
later the Ministry of Culture seized this particular painting.

And after that – the proposal for
cooperation. Nevertheless, I am ready to repeat: we are ready for cooperation
if the Ministry of Culture revises its attitude towards our organization.
Because, if we have the same aim, namely to preserve the heritage for future
generations, we must not have any conflicts. It is a very important challenge
and we can solve it only by cooperating with the government. They accuse us of
not having the wish to cooperate with the government. But this is not true. How
could we manage to renovate the estate without cooperation, for example, with
the Moscow City Government and with the Ministry of Culture? How could we turn
into life our exhibition projects without cooperating with the Ministry for
Foreign Affairs? We have rich experience in cooperation, but I hope that I have
proven to you that since appointment of the new administration of the Ministry
of Culture this cooperation has been calumniated. They tried to depict ICR as
an organization hostile to our country, but this is an open lie. It does not
reflect reality.

Dear colleagues, much destruction has already been
allowed. However, we all understand what a complicated time we live in.
Nevertheless, we should not get angry but we should continue our work. We have
great projects for the future and we will bring them to life. At the same time
we will preserve and save the Heritage. We will not let the Ministry of Culture
destroy it.

Thank you for your attention!

* * *

The Meeting of the International community on the issue of preservation of the non-governmental Museum named after Nicholas Roerich and the Roerichs’ family heritage